


Your Money Or Your Life

by toesohnoes



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Con-man, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-08
Updated: 2011-12-08
Packaged: 2017-10-27 02:28:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/290660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toesohnoes/pseuds/toesohnoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik turns up at a high-class function with the intention of conning a lot of overly rich people out of their money. Unfortunately, he runs into Charles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Money Or Your Life

**Author's Note:**

> Written at my [Tumblr](http://toestastegood-fic.tumblr.com/post/13554883048/you-are-without-a-doubt-the-most-irritating-man).

“You are without a doubt the most irritating man that I have ever come across,” Erik states emphatically, after talking to Charles for less than an hour. It’s almost as if he can feel Charles under his skin already, worming his way into his psyche.

For his part, Charles seems to find it more amusing than anything else. He holds his champagne glass near his ridiculously pink lips and takes a sip before he answers. “I can only imagine that you haven’t come across many men, in that case,” he says.

Only Charles could make that sound like a euphemism.

Erik feels certain that Charles’s smirk is meant only for him, and he can feel heat in his cheeks. He tugs at the collar of his shirt, feeling constricted, and looks away from Charles to the rest of the room: a high-society mixer, the women in their floor-length gowns are mingling with the men in their suits. The sound of bored chatter fills the air, and Erik has no doubt that he should be out there networking. There are a lot of very rich people in this room, and all of them could be persuaded to invest in his fledging company with just the right shove.

Instead he has spent the entire night so far in Charles Xavier’s company, and he can’t for the life of him explain why. Azazel will want his head for this in the morning.

“I find these events terribly dull,” Charles says. “I’d skip them entirely if I could.”

“Why don’t you?”

Charles’s smirk shows no signs of going away. “Where else would I have the opportunity to make the acquaintance of men such as yourself?” he asks innocently, his eyes bright with dangerous mischief. “What was it you said you did, Erik? Investments?”

What Erik ‘does’ is trick rich idiots into trusting him with his money, before he turns his back and runs as fast as he can.

There is something worryingly perceptive in the way that Charles looks at him, as if he already knows exactly what the game is. On paper, Charles would be an easy mark: the son of a rich family, now looking to make a name for himself outside of his father’s shadow. Daddy issues are so easy to play upon. All it takes is the slightest shove in the right direction.

Erik has a dozen different lives and cover stories, but none of them come forth as he watches Charles. Instead, what he says is, “I’m a thief.”

Charles’s smirk grows into a grin, very clearly delighted. “Are you here to steal from me?” he asks.

Erik looks at the glee in Charles’s eyes and the soft pink of his lips, and thinks that there are a great many things that he would like to steal from Charles - not all of it money. “I haven’t decided yet,” he admits.

Charles nods benignly. “Do let me know when you’ve made up your mind,” he says. Erik can no longer tell when he’s joking and when he’s being serious. “At the very least it might liven things up for a while.”

Erik ends the night in the Xavier’s mansion, spending hours in Charles’s bed with sweat-slick skin and long, frantic kisses. When he leaves in the morning, he doesn’t take the silver or the jewels: he brings Charles himself with him, something all the more precious indeed.


End file.
